Love and some Verses
by twitchytwain
Summary: Follow the lives of four very different New York couples in dealing with their love lives in various tales all set during two months before a frantic Christmas. There will be angast, hurt, romance, humor and a therapist of two. Multiple POV's for our beautiful couples: Bamon, Stelena, Klaroline, Kalijah and a few suprise hook-ups! Merry Christmas!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Bonnie and Damon are trying to save each other, their relationship and in essence, themselves.**

**A/U: Damon is a doctor and Bonnie is a police officer, they've been dating for over a year and currently share an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York. This is their story, this is their journey. **

**New A/N: Because this idea would not let me be (lol), I've decided to write from multiple POV's. So each chapter will be dedicated to a different couple and their situation. **

**#**

**To Make You Feel My Love**

**#**

Damon was alone in the on call room, his weary eyes glaring at the field of white neon lights hanging from the ceiling. He was tired and every single chunk of him ached, heavy limbs pained right down to his bones. Damon had it good; his life was damn fucking beautiful. He reminded himself. He remembered his mother, her civil rights rallies, tofu dinners and Russian literature. Their last family gathering in Mystic Falls before she passed away seemed like such a long time ago, even though it had been last Christmas. He hadn't taken Bonnie to that either, Damon hadn't been ready for complications back then even though his mother had been a frenzied liberal who would've thrown an impromptu vegan dinner to welcome Bonnie into the family. Damon still wondered how a woman as remarkable and free-spirited as his mother could have fallen for the charms of his staunch Republican father.

He plunged a hand inside his pocket and snatched out his mobile phone, shaky fingers fidgeting with the keys. It was a weekend, which meant even longer shifts. Damon wouldn't be making it to dinner again tonight and he already knew that Bonnie would be disappointed.

"_No luck tonight. Love you."_

Tucking the phone back into his pocket, he shut his eyes and breathed out a heavy sigh listening to the familiar sounds of the hospital. The blaring intercoms, shouting patients, the shrill peal of ambulance sirens outside, these were all strangely comforting and reminded him why he was doing this to begin with. Why he was sitting in that lonely call room in a lumpy bunk bed and not at home with his girl.

"Paging Doctor Salvatore, paging Doctor Salvatore"

He listened to the intercom as the call echoed around the corridors then groaned as his pocket started beeping, dragging his unsteady hands down his face and rolling his shoulders, he lurched to his feet.

* * *

><p>"You look beat,"<p>

"That's an understatement," Damon shrugged glancing up at Stephan as they scrubbed and prepped for another long and gruelling surgery.

"Everything okay at home?" his younger brother dug and Damon gave him a nudge with his elbow feigning a smile.

"Why wouldn't it be Doctor Salvatore?" Damon cocked his head with a wink.

#

Outside, the sun had a stinging bite as Bonnie trampled fallen russet leaves along the congested sidewalk. They were bolting down the pavement, weaving through the crowd in an attempt to catch a husky delinquent who had assaulted a police officer. When Bonnie finally made contact, she lunged for the man tackling him to the ground before wresting with him. She yanked his arms, pulling them firmly behind his back and clamping a pair of handcuffs around his wrists.

"Come on cupcake, "she chortled into his ear "you know the drill" she breathed ignoring the vibrating phone in her back pocket. Patting him down, she kicked his sturdy legs apart and frantically pulled everything out of the offender's pockets.

"You have the right to remain silent," Bonnie commanded, thrusting the colossal brute in the backseat of the police car "anything you say or do may be used against you in a court of law" she yelled as she caught sight of her ruddy face in the car window; she looked swollen and tired from too many late nights in the job, too many late nights waiting up for Damon. She wondered when she had turned into this girl and shook her head as if shaking the very idea of this truth.

Finally, pulling the phone out of her pocket, Bonnie's eyes hurried along the text. Damon was cancelling again. Biting her bottom lip, she leaned back into the seat, snapping the phone shut. She was long done with feelings of disappointment, done with being pissed off, there had to be a new word for whatever she felt now.

"_Shit_," she muttered under her breath much to her partner's amusement.

"Is that the Mrs?" Katherine said smugly, fingers rapping against the steering wheel.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Pierce" Bonnie said coolly with an eye roll. She fiddled with her badge, the metal gleaming in the late autumn sunlight. Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut for a minute, tapping her nails against the side view mirror. Christ, she missed how they used to be, how free they had been. So much had changed now, Bonnie wasn't sure who had changed first but everything was different now. It used to be them against the world and Damon used to be all hers, from his wild blue eyes to that quirky eyebrow thing that used to drive Bonnie crazy with need and raging ache for the surgeon.

Damn, she missed that.

#

Damon fiddled with the door knob, early morning light already scattering along the grey walls of their apartment. The light stung his eyes and he raked a hand through his dark curls, cerulean blue eyes coasting the room. Their shoes still littered the hardwood floor, old takeaway boxes scattered around the coffee table and Bonbon's shimmering police badge flung across the couch next to the TV remote control and gun holster.

Then his eyes saw it and settled on the cupcake for a long moment, studying its gaudy pink colour and the bright candy-striped candle on top of it.

Damon groaned having completely forgotten about her birthday. Tossing his duffel bag on the littered couch, he staggered toward their bedroom and slumped against the open door, watching Bonnie sleep. He listened to her shallow breathing and something stirred inside him. He had missed her, missed this, watching her sleep like this. Damon had missed the way her soft hair fell over her face, the way her lips curled at the corners in a tickled smile even in her sleep. Damon loved Bonnie; he never doubted that about himself and hoped that Bonnie never question it either. He might have forgotten dinners, even birthdays but they had been so wrapped up in their separate lives, both of them were to blame.

Slowly Damon slipped off his scrubs and slid into bed with his brunette, tangling himself around Bonnie's warm lush limbs. Bonnie breathed and he breathed, soft hair tickling his skin, hot breath dancing on warm flesh. Everything was warm, bathed in late October sunlight and Damon was delirious.

There was only one simple truth for Damon, he loved Bonnie and Bonnie made him happy. Yes, his life was indeed damn fucking beautiful.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_Thank you for the reviews guys, I'm always grateful for the support. _

**A/U: **_So, in an effort to illustrate the vast differences between Bonbon and Damon, I've altered the Bennett family tree a tad. Sheila is still grams but Tessa and Emily are Bonnie's sisters and Jamie is her half-brother. Bonnie comes from a large family in this fic. _

**#**

**Eat, Pray, Love**

**#**

She was awake, he thought as he caught the buttery smell of melted cheese. Damon could barely see her through the golden haze of sunlight pouring into their bedroom.

"What time is it?" his voice croaked as he untangled himself from the sheets, nearly falling off the rumpled bed. He took out his frustrations on the blankets, kicking them down toward the Maplewood floor.

"Time for you to get up"

It was a Sunday which meant lunch at gram's house.

"I'm sorry about your birthday" he pleaded with a slow calculated approach towards his brunette.

"Typical" she said, stiff lipped with a wicked eye roll.

"I will make it up to you Bonb-"

"I can't rely on you for anything, you never have my back. That cabinet in the kitchen, you've been fixing it since July!"

Damon opened his mouth to say something but decided against it.

"How about can hang out together today?" he inquired instead, wriggling his brows.

"We go to grams house every Sunday"

"We can break tradition" he leered, draping his arms around her and breathing in her heady scent of warm milk and honey. She looked at him in the mirror and her green eyes said it all.

"I'll take a shower" he said, admitting defeat.

#

Bonnie was removing the salads she had prepared for gram's lunch from the fridge when she felt Damon press up against her, his breath fanning her neck. He kicked the refrigerator door softly and swung her around to face him.

"I'm sorry, "he repeated, the whisper of his breath teasing her mouth. Cupping her jutted chin with one hand, he pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, then her cheek, her nose and one on each eyelid. Bonnie blew out a sharp breath, nodding weakly as he rested his forehead against hers.

"Are you still mad?" he teased and Bonnie simply cocked her eyebrow as he pressed his lips to hers. When he hugged her, his black hand-knit sweater still smelled of acorns from last fall. They stood there for a while, Damon clinging to her and Bonnie's hands fastened around the Tupperware.

Damon logic, Bonnie thought. He was pretending as though nothing was wrong, as though forgetting her birthday was not a colossal mistake. He was being typical Damon and on any other day she would have carried on with her feet stomping and yelling but she was exhausted. Bonnie had grown up in a big family so she had to learn to fight and shout to make her opinions known. Her methods never seemed to work with Damon though, he was incorrigible.

The crisp afternoon air was wild with leaves, yellow cabs scuttling down Bleecker Street as Damon flagged down a taxi. Bonnie was busy buttoning her shearling coat, phone insistently ringing in her bag when a cab finally screeched to a halt in front of them.

"That's probably Emily, "Bonnie sighed as Damon eased her into the car, parcels and all "she's been telling me about some big announcement she wants to make all week"

"Maybe she's finally moving to Antarctica" Damon said rolling his eyes as the cab rushed past Marc and Max where he had bought Bonnie's lingerie for her birthday last year.

"Or she could be finally coming clean about being a man" he added, grabbing her hand inside the sun dappled taxi as they hurried past trees, trees and endless trees.

"Don't look at me like that, "he wiggled his dark brows "I love your crazy ass sisters" he flashed a mocking grin.

"Yes, we Bennett girls are totally badass" she replied airily.

"Speaking of, is your mother coming?"

"Don't know. Don't care" She deadpanned, the taxi moving swiftly out of Greenwich Village.

* * *

><p>They got out in front of a magnificent tree-lined row of brownstones, Damon carrying the load of prepared dishes and Bonnie walking slightly ahead of him. She swung her head back to look at him now and again, tossing her dark curls over her shoulder.<p>

Bonnie hated the current state of their relationship, the predicament they had found themselves in. She had never been a doubter; she had always known who she was and what she wanted. She had joined the police force after her father, Rudy Hopkins and had every intention of making detective one day. Her life had a plan, she played by the rules then _he_ happened and down the rabbit hole she went.

Now, she was starting to question herself again. Parts of her would forever ache for Damon, would forever adore him but now she wondered about the road not taken. Inhaling deeply, Bonnie knocked on the wide front door turning around again to watch as Damon climbed up the stair to settle beside her. The door flew open and there was her grams, glowing in all that Autumn light.

"There's my favourite granddaughter!" Sheila called as they walked into the warm house, the smell of spicy pumpkin pie consuming them.

"Grams!" Bonnie squealed hugging the older woman.

"Grams" Damon mimicked, pushing his sunglasses over his head and giving Sheila a firm bear hug.

"Happy Birthday!" Sheila exclaimed grasping Bonnie's hand and ushering the couple into the bustling kitchen.

"Aunt Bonnie!" a little girl tumbled into the kitchen nearly toppling her over. Laughing, Bonnie picked her up in one fell swoop and kissed her cherubic cheek.

"I think you're her favourite aunt" Tessa noted, smiling against her coffee cup.

"Happy Birthday sis!" Emily stormed in, her long bangs slapping her forehead when she made a leap for a startled Bonnie.

"Thanks" stammering, Bonnie looked over Emily's head trying to read Tess's eyes.

"I got you a gift" Emily persisted with a shrill squeal.

"_You_ got me a gift?"

"Oh yeah" she simpered before quickly adding a fervent, "BAM!" she cried gleefully sticking out her hand to show off her dazzling engagement ring.

"Marcel proposed?" Bonnie's eyes widened, examining the ring and the cut of it while Emily twirled her hand in front of her face. Bonnie deduced it to be at least a three carat and wondered how poor Marcel could afford such an extravagance on a fireman's salary.

"Fancy," Damon offered with mock enthusiasm and his notorious smirk.

"It's beautiful" Bonnie said then cleared her throat when she realized how pained and throaty her voice sounded. Of course she was happy for her sister. As careless and as flighty as Em was, she deserved happiness and that was Marcel and their baby.

"She picked it out herself, "Marcel announced, "she thought I would be cheap if I just surprised her" he chuckled, clinging to a cluttered corner, cradling their four month old baby.

"And you are cheap!"

"And you're spoilt!" he retorted

"Why am I even marrying this blue collar idiot?"

"Could be his ass"

"Oh yeah, there _is_ that" Emily giggled, tapping her fingers against her lips before she bounded for her fiancé. The group poured out of the kitchen and headed for the lounge with a blaring TV and a roaring fire.

"And when are you making an honest woman out of my granddaughter?" Sheila inquired, slipping her hands into a pair of quilted oven gloves.

Bonnie and Damon glanced at each other, deliberating which one should respond to the heated question.

"When is _she_ making an honest man out of _me_? " He finally conceded dipping his finger into a bowl of apple sauce before Bonnie swatted him off with her impatient hand. Shaking her head, Sheila accepted temporary defeat and set a steaming hot velvet cake on the wooden table.

"If I give you a treat do you promise to go away?" Bonnie asked her hovering boyfriend.

"Woof, "he growled into her ear before tickling her sides. Scrunching her shoulders, Bonnie tried to hide her giggles; her squirming nearly spilled the sauce she was busy whisking.

"Go" she laughed burying her face in her hands. As Damon sauntered off to hang out with the rest of the boys in front of the TV, her grams ambushed her with more questions.

"Did you do anything special on your birthday?"

"No, Damon forgot this year"

Sheila's eyes narrowed, her hand reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her granddaughter's face. Bonnie shook her head and swallowed hard trying to fight the erratic emotions welling up her chest, her throat.

"We've just been busy lately" she finally breathed, her attention drifting to her nieces playing with the gathered kaleidoscopic leaves in the garden.

"There's always time for love, "her grams said softly "you make time"

"Hmmm, tell her grams," Tessa cheered as she entered the kitchen. Handing Bonnie a small wooden box, she chirped "Happy birthday lil sis, "then added with an eager smile "it's something I picked up for you in Africa"

"You mean EBay, "Bonnie mocked, picking up an ivory doll and holding it up In the amber sunlight "is this a voodoo doll?"

"It's a fertility doll" she corrected, brows furrowing instantly. Bonnie loved to get under her skin; Tessa was so easily agitated by everything.

"Oh yes, because I'm trying to get pregnant by my commitment phobic boyfriend" she arched an eyebrow at Tessa.

"You know how it works in the Bennett clan Bon, first comes baby then comes marriage"

"I'm re-writing that Bennett curse"

"I'm envious of what you have you know. You're still free. "Tessa moaned folding her arms across her chest "I want to travel and Atticus wants more kids"

"You know what the problem is right? You're too alike"

"Yes, we're both controlling and a little crazy but it used to work just fine" she shrugged, raking her delicate fingers through her mess of dark curls.

"And where's my favourite little brother?"

"He's upstairs sparring with his little college buddy" Emily said with a wink as she drifted through the hot kitchen searching for something.

"Jamie is still in his bedroom with Jeremy? Tessa's sculpted brows vaulted in wild bemusement.

"Oh yeah" Emily chuckled knowingly as she existed the kitchen with her wailing baby.

Bonnie chuckled shaking her head and stealing a glance at her bewildered grams.

There really was, no place like home.

* * *

><p>By early evening, they were dashing inside Stephan and Elena's pre-war apartment building in the Upper East Side. Rushing past the doorman, arms draped around each other as they tumbled into the upholstered elevator.<p>

Sharing a forgiving glance at each other inside the lift, they both inhaled, preparing for another long session of obligatory Sunday stopovers.

Damon shut his eyes as the lift climbed, still wishing that he was home in bed with his girl.


	3. Chapter 3

**Dearest Forsaken**

**#**

"We're thinking of using donor eggs," Elena said softly, refilling both glasses with red wine.

Bonnie always felt too out of place in the couple's apartment, like some misplaced object among the white white rooms and beige tiffany chairs. Nothing had colour, right down to the beige cashmere throw Elena had given her as a birthday present.

"So it's final, no adoption?" Bonnie inquired before her lips smacked together, eyes holding Elena's gaze. She thought about how miniscule her problems with Damon seemed when their friends had a bigger crisis to face. How arguing about Damon's dirty socks on the floor and her strewn spices on the stupid kitchen counter seemed so pathetic and childish.

"Stefan doesn't want to adopt, something about passing on his genes" Elena feigned a smile as she rolled her brown eyes.

"Do you have a donor already?"

Elena twirled her glass with a slight nod of her head, "I want the child to have some of my own genes too" she finally said before taking a hefty gulp of wine.

"Katherine?" Wide-eyed, Bonnie scooted to the edge of her seat. Elena nodded, tucking a brown strand of hair behind her ear, chewing her bottom lip.

"Katherine" Bonnie repeated, suddenly needing something stronger than the vintage bottle they were draining. Elena glared into her glass as if the words she wanted to say were scrawled somewhere deep inside it.

"I'm exhausted; this having a baby business is all we talk about, all I think about"

"I'm sorry" Bonnie soothed, her hand resting on top of Elena's. Mrs Salvatore looked up at her and allowed a faint smile to touch her lips. Her brown eyes said it all, _**Thank you.**_

They hugged firmly, Bonnie leaning over Elena's shoulder to stare at Caroline as she staggered into the kitchen.

"I think I'm jealous of my stepdaughter!" she huffed throwing herself into her chair, crossing her tanned legs. She tossed her mobile phone on the table having gone down to the den earlier to relay a message about Hope to Klaus.

"Technically, Klaus is still just your fiancé" Elena corrected her as she composed herself.

"We all know you love Hope" Bonnie chimed in, already finishing her potent glass of wine.

"I do but whenever Hope is round, I feel so unimportant" she exclaimed motioning toward an empty glass. Elena did the honours by filling the glass to the necessary brim before getting up to fetch a fresh bottle of wine. Caroline snatched the glass hastily, guzzling down the burgundy liquid as a moan escaped her lips.

"Maybe I'm just being selfish" she finally said with a long breath.

"You're only human" Elena shrugged as she struggled with the cork.

"Damon and I are growing apart," Bonnie murmured, her cheeks growing hot from the wine and her own hastening pulse." I feel like everything is so forced lately" she threaded her fingers through her dark curls.

"Relationships are hard work" Caroline offered, plucking the wine bottle from Elena's hand. The blonde managed to rip out the cork and dispense its contents into the lined glasses.

Work, Bonnie thought with a forced smile, was a word she was even less fond of when it came to love. She worked hard enough on all other areas in her life and she didn't feel the need to work when it came to something as sentimental as love. You either had it or you didn't, maybe that was just the sceptic in her. She was a cop after all.

#

"We don't even have sex anymore unless it's during Elena's ovulation. She even has an ovulation calculator" Stefan scratched his head before leaning over the pool table, positioning the perfect shot "and those hormone shots are turning her into a crazy Godzilla!" he said hitting his mark as the balls rattled down the table, red sinking into a basket.

"Caroline is driving me up the bloody wall!" Klaus growled shaking his head, eyes focused on Stefan's next play. Setting up the shot, Klaus watched as the balls scattered around the green felt, smacking into each other, nothing sank this time.

"I don't get why she feels so angry and neglected whenever Hope is around. Hope is my daughter and that trumps everything" Klaus called over his shoulder, lining up his own shot and setting his drink to the side.

Damon shook his head, not quite sure when he had signed up for the broken-hearts club. It seemed to him that marriage required guts, guts to be miserable and he sure as hell wasn't ready for a miserable life. Bonnie made him happy, for as long as he had her Damon would be happy. He would never tire of her, as long as they never married.

"Hope is four and Caroline is twenty six. She should be able to handle things" Klaus said grimly gesturing to Stefan to take his shot.

"To therapy" Damon raised his glass, a muscle jumping in his jaw. He was a little drunk and feeling rather unstable around his two jabbering friends.

"You should see how she vexes when Hayley's in town"

"Speaking of, how is your magnificent ex-wife?" Damon slurred, smirking into his glass. He was irritated with the direction of this current conversation and eager to change it to something more entertaining.

"Don't even go there" Klaus threatened, notably uncomfortable.

"I'm not and I won't" he said "I love Bonnie. Besides, you know what they say," Damon added, clanking the ice inside his glass" for every beautiful woman there's a guy who's tired of screw-"

"So you love Bonnie?" Stefan's brows arched, seemingly doubting his brother's statement.

"No brother, that's why I've spent the better part of a year sharing my apartment with her," He mocked before guzzling a hefty glug of his drink, swiping his hand across his mouth "I love her. Truly, madly, deeply" he finally bellowed and gave them a deep bow.

"Just not enough to marry her" Stefan noted, thick brows furrowed as he studied Damon.

"I have my issues Stefan, don't judge" Damon shifted from his position, squeezing Stefan's shoulder.

"When was the last time you bought her flowers?" Stefan persisted.

"Bonnie doesn't _do _flowers"

"_All _women do flowers"

"Stefan, you cad"

"You should try a little tenderness, love" Klaus offered, swigging down his beer.

"Said the man who's having premarital problems with Care-bear "

"No, said the man who's been involved with two of the hottest women in Manhattan"

"Touche" Damon slurred with a wink, draining the rest of his bourbon.

#

She was drunker than him, Damon could tell from the way Bonnie swayed and staggered while she worked his shirt buttons with great effort. She yanked the tails of his shirt free from his jeans, driving him back against the door. Finally tearing his shirt open in haste, she buried her mouth around his nipples.

"Bonb-"

Damon flinched when her nails dragged down his chest almost tearing his red and raw flesh. Skull throbbing, he pulled her back with his fists firm around her dark hair and ravaged her hot mouth.

This was them now, what they did to feel.

Drunk and angry sex, exaggerated movements to make the other one hurt, to make the other party react.

"Uhm…Baby…"

Tonight, Bonnie was a woman on a mission as she eagerly dragged her mouth back to his hard pectoral muscles. She licked and sucked, teeth gripped tight around his aching nipples.

"Hmmm…"

Groaning deep in her mouth, Damon picked her up and whisked her out to the bedroom. She slid her shivering arms around his broad shoulders. Damon buried his excited hand in her thick hair, fingers woven around the soft strands.

Their tongues tangled, breaths mingled in hot fiery hallucinations. Everything was a red blur, a riot of gut-wrenching emotions and heart palpitations as Damon buried himself in the hot, sweet lushness of her golden flesh.

Hurt people hurt people, Damon thought as he sank his teeth in the curve of her throbbing neck.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/U:** _**Stefan is a surgeon and Elena is a qualified psychologist and now, homemaker. They've been married for four years and currently reside in an Upper East Side apartment.**_

_**#**_

Stefan and Elena

#

**Anatomy of Grace**

**#**

_You are fertility challenged_, the doctor had told them. At least he hadn't used the word barren because that is how Elena felt, like an old barren failure. She felt cheated at being a woman, isn't that what defined being a woman, her fertility and her children?

_We're a team,_ Stefan had reiterated, soothing, mellow and comforting. She hated when he spoke to her in that manner, it only seemed to heighten the situation as though he was cheering up and down with a big neon banner that read _Elena Gilbert, number one failure._

At twenty five she was told that she had old eggs. Elena would have laughed at this irony if the situation hadn't been so damn messed up. So now her options were slim and listed for her in big black print; egg donor, adoption or IVF. They were caught between adoption and requesting ovaries from Katherine, her coffee addicted sister who smoked like a funnel and drank like a fish. Elena could still carry _their_ baby; Stefan had assured her and the child would feel just like hers. Elena had the bold tenacity of a wasp but after countless miscarriages and endless doctor visits she had begun to lose faith.

After spending her entire life _not_ trying to get pregnant, here she was _unable_ to get pregnant. She couldn't help but chuckle, tonight had been one of her better nights.

With a great yawn, Elena sunk deeper into the warm foamy water, allowing its hot fingers to massage her prickled skin. She was drugged and sensuous from the warm wine and the milky water. She had lost track of how much she had drunk tonight and quite frankly didn't care.

The knock on the bathroom door snapped her from her luxuriously languid thoughts as her husband sauntered into the foggy room and perched at the edge of the big white tub. With half lidded weary eyes, she viewed him and smiled. She gave him one of those smiles he liked, the come-hither smile, the lazy jazz on a hot Sunday smile; the I want to spend forever just holding you smile.

"You okay?" he asked, tweaking the crystal water taps for a while and watching as she moaned, wiggling her toes under the burst of warm water.

"I'm just tired. What you got there?" she coaxed, eyes drifting to the layered cheesecake topped with bright red strawberries.

"Would you like some?" he inquired with a tender smile, gathering a forkful of cake as he scooted closer to his wife. Elena opened her mouth slightly wider indicating that she wanted to be fed but quickly paused, "You're not going to choo-choo train are you?" she beamed.

"Do you want me to? Sandy hair damp from the milk-white mist, he grinned and cocked an eyebrow as he lifted a mouthful for her pleasure. Elena let her mouth close around the fork and groaned softly, brown eyes gazing up at him.

Reaching out his hand, Stefan brushed a hair from her cheek and placed a light kiss on the tip of her nose. Tonight, she was in a good place. Tonight, there had been no judgement in Stefan's eyes. When she bit into the juicy strawberry he offered her, there was no judgement in her eyes either.

"Wanna join me?" her voice was husky and thick with lust.

"Do I seem dirty to you?" he cocked an eyebrow, a smile toying with his lips.

"Filthy" she rolled the word around her tongue like those dirty Spanish phrases she had learnt back in her catholic high school.

Slowly, Stefan unbuttoned his shirt, swaying to a beat in his head and she began to clap, laughing huskily. He looked up coyly at her, bottom lips sucked between his teeth and then he winked. His face swam in the silvery fog, the loveliest ghost she had ever seen.

"Take it off, take it off!" she cheered for him, smacking her hands together and cupping them over her mouth in loud approval. Stefan climbed into the bath with her, nestled behind her. Warm arms draped around her wet, soapy shoulders, his strong thighs pressed against her hips inside the muddled water. Burying her head in the crook of his neck, Elena sank back against her husband, closed her eyes and took in the woodsy scent of his familiar cologne. Leisurely, gently as if they were caught in a dream, he wove his fingers around her wet hair and lifted her face to him. His kiss was a slow rhyme, a sultry dance of fingers through wet strands, moist lips sweet with warm wine and it left her panting for more. His soft tongue sought without inhibition, nothing but air and heat between them.

"I'm ovulating" she breathed against his mouth, his fingertips brushing the curve of her lower back.

"Your seduction skills could use a little work" he chuckled, his lips never living hers.

"Shut up and kiss me" Elena finally gasped, her hand buried deep in his wet tresses. She pulled him firmly, eager for more of his inebriating kiss.

#

Tonight she wasn't angry Elena, tonight she was _his_ Elena. Tonight, she wasn't the Elena who cried about him hating her because she couldn't conceive. She was his Wasp Elena, college debate team Elena, half-Windsor knot tying Elena for that first interview at the hospital. He loved _this_ Elena.

Christ, their lives were perfect and they loved each other like there were still in med-school, so why couldn't they just have a damn baby? Why was nature so cruel?

Elena stirred in the nook of his arm and he pressed himself firmer against her warm, heaving body. He felt her breathing, listened to the gentle hum of it. It was nearly sunrise, he presumed as the careless grey shadows grew shorter, green and lavender lights playing around their bedroom, slowly making everything distinguishable.

Stefan had always wanted kids, small little rug-rats running around and crawling all over him. He never had that growing up. There had been just him, Damon and the gruelling hunting expeditions with their father. That's not the life he wanted for his kids, he wanted to be a different dad. He wanted to be their friend. Sure, he knew his dad had loved them but he was firm and oppressive. Giuseppe had only tolerated Damon while he doted on Stefan and Damon liked to tease him about being dad's golden boy. Naturally, Stefan scoffed at this idea but what he would never admit to Damon was that he had always envied Damon's relationship with their liberal mother.

Stefan tried to close his eyes again, wait for the buzz of his alarm but he still couldn't sleep. There was only one question antagonizing his restless mind, Katherine and Elijah's response to their incongruous proposal of using Katherine as their egg donor.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AU: Thank you so much to the reader who noted the 'Stephan" error. After getting into a car accident today, i must say i appreciate the small things in life and I'm so grateful that there are people out there like yourselves who take the time to read my stuff ;) love**_


	5. Chapter 5

**A/U: **_**Katherine is a police officer with the NYPD; Elijah is a second lieutenant in the army. He's currently deployed in Iraq and she resides in their Brooklyn home in New York. This is their story. **_

Katherine and Elijah

**#**

**A Thousand Miles to fall down at your door**

**#**

Katherine snapped the laptop shut and sat there for a long while glaring at rose pattern on the Oriental rug they had bought two summers ago. She wondered why they had even bought the damn thing before her mind drifted to that one time they had made love on it. Perhaps it had been the sumptuous scarlet colour of the rug, too much scotch or the raging storm that night but they had behaved like fervent teenagers.

A few military wives often referred to deployment as a little death. Katherine still felt the grief but she was getting better at coping, better at numbing herself to his absence. However, she still struggled with the empty bed, not having him there when she stirred in the early hours of a chilly morning. Katherine hated sleeping alone. One would think that with her being a cop she would be better equipped with handling his deployment but distances were distances and they affected relationships in the same manner. She missed him and she craved him.

_You got to stay army strong Kat. _

Wrapping her hands around the hot mug, her thumbs traced the bold NYPD letters printed on the ceramic. She sighed letting everything sink in, allowing the news to seep in.

Elijah was coming home.

After a year- long deployment in Iraq, he was finally coming home to her. Sixty more days until Christmas and her husband was coming home for the long holidays.

She ambled her way through to the kitchen, the cold snaking its way up her bare feet and she wiggled her toes on the cold tiles.

It was Monday morning and her new tenant was ushering out a different girl, a Sunday night pick up from some random pub, his tedious routine. He was naked as usual, nothing she hadn't seen before and she was starting to think that he was a nudist. Either way he loved showing it off and he loved that it riled her up in more ways than one. He stopped when he saw her, his eyes considering her carefully through long eyelashes and his jaw muscle jumped. Katherine cracked a hesitant smile and he gave a slight nod, a smile teasing his lips. Her brown eyes roamed over his hard chest, tanned skin glistening in the cold sun and dragged down to his hard muscles before snapping shut. With her lips pressed tightly together, she pried one eye open before snatching the cord and dropping the blinds. The white blades fell down with a sharp clank and she pressed her hips against the counter top. She was in desperate need for something cooler than the coffee she was filling up on. A powerful rush tickled up her spine and Katherine had to reprimand herself.

_Down girl, down._

Her Elijah would soon be home and all the nonsense would cease, officer Derek Hale would go back to the searing undergrounds of hell from where he came. As much as she was loath to admit it, she had enjoyed having a man around the property. Derek Hale had been very good with his hands. It wasn't that she couldn't get dirty but she enjoyed having someone else getting dirty on her behalf.

She sighed lighting a cigarette before finally submitting to her shower, the taste, the frantic pull, everything felt so overtly dramatic that she had to stub the thing out before she had satisfied her senses. Nothing worked; her nerves were getting the better of her. She needed to get to the precinct and shoot something and fast.

She pulled her hair back, taut around her shaky fingers; she had survived without Elijah for so long she worried if she could survive _with_ him.

#

It was zero seven hundred hours in her time, fourteen hundred hours in Iraq and bright and blistering hot.

Elijah's eyes followed a couple of soldiers roving around the base, laughing comfortably in their false sense of security. The camp wasn't lacking in the comforts of home but it didn't make him miss her less or need her less. He still wrote her letters but he never mailed them. He didn't want to miss her face when she read the words he'd scrawled down so they made do with their videoconferences. Sometimes he worried that she would forget him, that he would vanish from her memory one morning.

He should have been grateful that he wasn't out there in some smaller camp with no plumbing, using outhouses for toilets, no running water, using water bottles and baby wipes to keep clean. Elijah was always inside the wire, never outside in those bustling desert streets.

Sunburn prickled his skin everywhere and he was just an office guy, a pencil pusher. Elijah felt sorry for those poor sons of bitches out there in the crackling heat and dry gold dust. Iraq was still fiercely hot, dry and merciless even though they called October their rainy season.

He wished it would rain, warm and fat to drown out everything. He missed New York and he missed Katherine. He pulled down the blinds, weary from the scorching heart. With his hand clutching the back of his neck, short nails scratching his short crew cut, he slumped down on the upholstered leather chair and glared at the black screen where his wife had appeared.

His nerves prickled at the thought of holding her again, breathing in her sultry scent, raking his fingers through her dark tangled curls and kissing that petulant mouth of hers.

Fingering out her picture from his wallet again, he allowed himself the small pleasure of a genuine smile.

"There's nothing that I will not brave for your sake," he murmured a line from the great Voltaire, tracing a finger over her face as the light hit her desert brown eyes. They were gleaming, throbbing and reminded him of wide generous spacing where they could roam free and wild where no one would ever rope them in.

_She_ was his desert.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This chapter's cameo role was the sexy Derek Hale from Teen Wolf. If you guys have any requests with regards to any guest appearences that you'd like to see, let me know and that could make things a bit interesting with the storyline. **

**The next chapter will be Klaus and Caroline after which the chapters wont be exclusive to just the couples. It will just be the story flowing. I miss Bamon too much to wait for two more chapters!lol**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **_**Klaus is a young real estate mogul, Caroline is a bartender and part-time photographer. They currently share an apartment in the Meat Packing District, New York.**_

**#**

Klaus and Caroline

**#**

**Fairy tale Beginnings**

**#**

Caroline Forbes was not a morning person.

Something nudged her foot, tugging her big toe and she pushed back, sleep dragging her slothful limbs, clinging to her lethargic muscles. The thing persisted, jerking her toes and scraping the pink soles of her feet. Squirming under the pile of pillows she had buried herself under, Caroline kicked back the blankets. She refused to get up; whatever it was would have to concede defeat and let her be. Grinning under her soft chrysalis, she groaned as sleep dragged her back into its beautiful fog. Then she felt the bed dip, heard the soft spurts of muffled laughter, tendrils of silver chortles bursting through thrilled fingers and her blue eyes cracked open and glared.

_Hope._

Electrified by the prospect of having awoken the blonde, the child began jumping up and down the bed with a spirit that shook Caroline from the mattress. Rolling over to her back, Caroline used her elbows to push herself up. She blew a strand of hair from her face and tried to calm herself.

"Sweetie, it's so early"

It was her one day off from the bar, no boisterous drunk clients trying to pick her up with tired lines, no drunken clients getting sick on the floor and tipping her morsels. In truth, Coyote Ugly was one of the trendiest bars in the Meat Packing District and Caroline loved her job.

What she loved even more than her job was her beauty sleep. Slumber, she would not be relishing because of the beautiful little monster rocking her bed.

"Wake up! Wake up!"

Caroline grabbed her ankle, a move meant to sedate the hysterical child. What she had not counted on was jerking her small ankle, a trigger that sent the waif little thing plummeting down on the bed, immersed in a whirl of blankets.

Ow!" Hope cried, rapidly climbing down the bed "Daddy!"

Caroline groaned, smacking her head back against the pillows, clenched fists pounding the mattress. She was in no mood to deal with Klaus's wrath today. Caroline was tired and cranky, besides the fact that they hadn't made love since Hope arrived.

Two weeks and counting.

"I swear nothing happened" Caroline shook her head, stepping back with her hands held up in meek defence. She was tired of defending herself every time there was a problem with Hope, tired of Klaus forever swooping in to rescue his daughter from the big evil stepmom.

"There, there" Klaus soothed while rubbing her knee "Daddy will make it all better. I promise"

Picking his daughter up, Klaus kissed her cheek and glared bitterly at Caroline.

"What happened?" he inquired and Caroline caught the repressed snarl in his voice.

"Nothing, it was an accident" she replied, puffing a breath of hot air through her lips.

"Just let her jump on the damn bed, love" he said "she's only a child"

"It's seven in the morning!" she cried, hands splayed on her hips "You need to set rules, Klaus"

"_We_ need to set rules, we're co-parenting remember?"

"In theory but whenever there's an issue you come running. You never let me handle things"

"You're not my mommy! "Hope's bottom lip quivered, arms clasped around Klaus's neck.

"I think you girls are due some bonding time," he simpered "don't you think so, love?"

"What am I going to do with her?"

"Go show her Nemo, you know how much she likes that"

Showing her Nemo meant taking Hope down to the aquarium. Klaus thought that the place calmed her and after reading an article about Aquarium therapy, he made her visits to aquarium almost mandatory.

This would be Hope's fist therapist, Caroline mused because Manhattan was crawling with toddlers and therapists on daddy's payroll.

"Nemo? Honey, I have a dress on hold at Bergdorf"

"Don't make me with go with_ her_, daddy" Hope whined, pressing harder against her father.

"Pretty please, "he cajoled, closing the gap between them with his daughter snug around his waist "I'll make it worth your while, sweetheart" he told Caroline.

"You wouldn't tease a girl, would you?" she smirked, the pad of his thumb brushing her bottom lip. The brief flicker in his eyes disappeared as soon as Hope tweaked his ears, crying for his attention.

"I'm my late for meeting, love" he told his blonde.

"Sure, go ahead. I'll take care of Hope" she surrendered, fingers ruffling her tangled flaxen locks.

"Thank you" he grinned, setting Hope down on the bed before kissing the top of her head "Daddy loves you" he whispered before returning to Caroline.

"And Daddy loves you too" he reinforced with a lowly growl, hands cupping her face. Lowering his head, he kissed her with slow precision that disputed everything she had felt about him earlier than morning.

Klaus loved her and she didn't want to doubt that again.

#

Caroline loved the mammoth space of their loft. She loved the sunlight flooding through the wall to wall French windows, dancing around the baby grand in the middle of their lounge and she loved the neon graffiti walls in her photography studio downstairs where she could sit for hours developing her film.

As Caroline tied Hope's shoes, she felt the little girl's scowl burning holes on the top of her head and she looked up.

"Is there a problem?" she puffed, nervously combing her fingers through her hair

"Do you know what you're doing?" Hope huffed, arms crossed over her tiny chest.

"Theoretically, no" Caroline said before she cautiously took Hope's hand.

They took the ubiquitous yellow cabs rushing past their grey bricked apartment building much to Hope's protests. She wanted to use their driver but Caroline felt that it was her duty to show the kid_ her_ New York, or rather _her_ Manhattan as they wold not be leaving the borough.

"I want ice cream!" Hope scoffed, sliding and writhing in the backseat of the taxi.

"No. It's too cold"

"Nobody says no to me!"

"Well, I just did"

"Daddy's paying you to make me happy!"

"Your daddy is _not_ paying me"

"He gives you money!" she objected, tiny brows furrowed and arms crossed across her chest in firm defiance. Caroline could feel the cab driver's eyes scrutinizing her from the mirror, she was about to retort, give the little girl a piece of her mind but thought it better to resign and play with the threads of her tweed coat.

#

They stood in front of the tank observing a school of fish as they floated around the deep blue sea. Caroline found the scene strangely soporific, beautiful and serene. She turned around to look at Hope.

"Pretty isn't it, Hope?" she asked in her sweetest voice.

Hope looked away from the tank, the intensity in her eyes startling Caroline, "I hate you" she seethed without blinking.

"Yeah, well right now I hate me too" she replied with a shrug and before she knew it, Hope was bent over throwing up on Caroline's brand new Manolo Blahniks.


End file.
